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Cross-Hatched

In conversation with the special exhibition Jasper Johns: 'Something Resembling Truth', Cross-Hatched takes inspiration from Jasper Johns’ collaborative and fruitful friendships with composer John Cage and choreographer and dancer Merce Cunningham. This series includes three evenings of music, voice and dance films programmed with live accompaniment and Fluxus performances, demonstrating the close friendships between the three artists and the influence they played on each other’s creative practice. Co-curated and performed by pianist Adam Tendler, the series will also feature legendary vocalist Joan La Barbara, renowned for developing a unique vocabulary of experimental and extended vocal techniques, which have influenced generations of other composers and singers.

A Taste of Cross-Hatched

CROSS-HATCHED PERFORMANCE DATES

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Mar. 14, 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Apr. 18, 8 p.m.

“Of course, painters were a large and important part of Merce’s audience. The music was one of the strong attractions for them. I thought of John as a sort of teacher/preacher/soldier. His curiosity seemed wide-ranging and athletic, and he was able to connect his work to other fields of thought—to nature, philosophy, science and whatnot. He was generous in his willingness to explain these connections and seemed happy to convince others of the usefulness of his ideas...I think many of us felt that ideas in one medium could trigger ideas in another medium—and that mediums could be mixed in new ways.” -Jasper Johns

The Broad wishes to acknowledge The John Cage Trust and Merce Cunningham Trust for their valuable input and permissions.

Adam Tendler

ABOUT THE CO-CURATOR

Adam Tendler has been called “a virtuoso” by The Village Voice, a “new music evangelist” by Time Out New York and a “quietly charismatic...intrepid...outstanding...maverick pianist” by The New Yorker. He has performed solo recitals in all fifty states, including engagements at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kitchen, (le) poisson rouge, Issue Project Room, National Sawdust, Rubin Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Rothko Chapel, Joe’s Pub, The Fisher Center at Bard College and as the first musical performer at James Turrell’s Skyspace in Sarasota, Florida. His memoir, 88x50, was a 2014 Kirkus Indie Book of the Month and a Lambda Literary Award Nominee. A recognized interpreter of modern American music, Tendler has performed the work of John Cage internationally, often from memory, working closely with the John Cage Trust. Tendler has recorded and spoken about Cage’s music for the immersive music app, Tido, produced by Cage’s exclusive publisher, Edition Peters, making him the first performer to record Cage’s music exclusively for a digital music platform. He also appears in the new “more than the score” edition of John Cage’s In a Landscape, providing commentary and performance advice. Of an outdoor performance in 2016, New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini wrote that Tendler played Cage’s music “captivatingly,” and that “the wondrously subdued sounds silenced many, who listened closely even as street bustle and chirping birds blended in.”